Achievements of Class of 2017 Celebrated at Tropaia Awards Ceremony

Thana Hassan El-Sallabi (SFS ’17) addressed her fellow graduates for the senior class speech.

Outstanding members of Georgetown University in Qatar’s (GU-Q) Class of 2017 were recognized recently at the University’s traditional Tropaia Awards ceremony and senior dinner. The annual event, which takes place the day before commencement, honors the academic and extracurricular achievements of the graduating class and the contribution that faculty and staff members have made to their success.

“We are here today to acknowledge the students whose efforts have earned them outstanding achievements,” said GU-Q Dean James Reardon-Anderson, who opened the event by summarizing the history of Tropaia. He explained that the word, which derives from ancient Greek, referred to a monument celebrating a military victory, and is now used to denote a trophy or award.

A range of academic and community engagement awards were presented to the students at the event. These included the Dean’s Medal for the highest scholastic average, which was presented to Abdurrehman Naveed. Five students graduated with Latin honors; namely, Omar Atef ElHefnawy (cum laude), Rehab Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Naemi and Sana Tariq (both magna cum laude), and Mohammad Taimur Ali Ahmad and Abdurrehman Naveed (both summa cum laude).

As the event drew to a close, Thana Hassan El-Sallabi (SFS ’17) addressed her fellow graduates for the senior class speech. Taking her peers back to their orientation four years ago, El-Sallabi asked the class to close their eyes, and to remember that day and the meaning of the value that they had been taught during their time at GU-Q: service. “The underlying message that we’ve been taught in all of our classes, ranging from theology and philosophy to government and history and economics, has been about service,” said El-Sallabi. “Within service we learn a couple of other lessons. The first, and I think the most important, is that people matter. Everything we study relates to people.”

For the international history major, this was particularly evident in her studies. “As my professors have taught me over the years, getting history right is about honing our ability to understand the world view and the decision-making processes of the people before us,” she said. “If we can learn to understand those who are dead, those who have lived two centuries ago, how can we not learn to understand those who are different to us today?”

The members of the Class of 2017 join more than 340 GU-Q alumni who have graduated from GU-Q since it opened its doors in Qatar in 2005. They earned the same globally recognized Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service (BSFS) degree that is offered on Georgetown’s Main Campus in Washington, D.C.